Nightmares
by M4RCH H4RE
Summary: Kili has a nightmare and needs Fili to comfort him. (young Fili & Kili) xx


"Fili? Fili, are you awake?", a small voice whispered somewhere in the dark and there was the sound of a door closing softly and then little bare feet pattered across the cold stone floor of Fili's bedroom.

Blinking and rubbing sleep from his eyes Fili sat up in bed and peered into the gloom. "Kili, is that you?", he whispered, already knowing the answer before he had even asked, "What are you doing up at this time? You should be in bed."

The footsteps stopped and Fili heard a sniff from somewhere to his left. Instantly he jumped out of bed, wincing as his feet touched the icy floor, and grabbed a candle from the table beside his bed. Lighting it he could make out the tiny shadowy figure of his baby brother stood in the middle of the floor, shivering and brushing tears away from his cheeks.

"Kili?! What's wrong?" Fili ran across the room and pulled his little brother into a hug, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. Through his shirt he could feel Kili's cold hands pressed against his back, making him shiver. "Come and sit on my bed and tell me what's wrong," Fili urged, taking Kili's hand and leading him over to the bed. Once there Fili lifted Kili up and then sat beside him and wrapped his blanket around both of them.

Kili cuddled against his older brother, leaning his head on Fili's shoulder and closed his eyes. Tears still leaked out from under his eyelids and Fili could feel him sobbing.

"Kili, look at me. What's wrong? Are you ill? Talk to me." Fili shook the younger dwarf's shoulder gently and tried to turn his tear stained face towards him, but Kili refused to look up and just clung on even tighter. With a feeling of rising panic Fili wondered if there could be something serious wrong with his little brother. What if he was sick or had hurt himself? The young dwarf considered calling their uncle or their mother to come and make sure Kili was alright. _ But then they'd make him go back to his room, _a little voice in the back of Fili's head pointed out, _and he clearly doesn't want to be on his own._ "Kili," Fili tried again, "why are you crying?"

Kili looked up at him with big, dark eyes brimming with tears that leaked slowly down his cheeks. "I had a bad dream," he whispered, so quietly that Fili had to lean forwards to catch what he said, and clutched his brother tighter.

Fili let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding in a sigh of relief. A bad dream was fine, he could cope with nightmares as long as Kili wasn't ill. "Do you want to talk about it?", he asked kindly, holding Kili's little hand in his slightly larger ones, "It sometimes makes you feel better if you talk about it."

Shaking his head Kili snuggled further under the blanket and wiped his eyes furiously with the back of his hand. "You'll think it's silly," he muttered, "You never get scared of anything."

Smiling Fili ruffled his little brother's messy, dark hair affectionately. "I would never think anything you were scared of was silly, Kili, you know that. You can tell me anything." He pulled Kili further onto the bed so that they were both leaning against the pillow, wrapped tightly in the warm, woollen blanket. "Come on, what was this dream of yours about?"

Slowly Kili nodded. "I was in a cave and you and Uncle Thorin were there too. It was really dark and you were holding my hand. We were going somewhere, but I can't remember why. Uncle Thorin kept telling us to hurry up." Kili paused to glance up at his brother with wide, worried eyes, checking to make sure Fili wasn't going to laugh. When Fili didn't laugh he continued: "There was a noise, a really loud noise, and we all fell over. When I sat up you and Uncle Thorin had gone and I... I was all alone and there were strange noises." Kili began to cry again, tears dripping off the end of his nose and onto Fili's shirt, and wrapped his little arms around his older brother's neck. "Then I woke up," he sniffed miserably.

"Oh, Kili," Fili pulled him into a big hug, "Do you really think I'd go anywhere without you? There is absolutely nothing for you to be scared of. I will always be there to look after you, I promise."

For a few minutes the two little dwarves sat beside each other in silence as Kili slowly stopped crying. "You promise?", he whispered looking trustingly up at Fili, his face breaking into a wide smile.

"I promise," Fili repeated and kissed his younger sibling on the top of the head, "Now how about you get some sleep? You can stay here with me if you like."

Delighted Kili nodded and they snuggled down together and Fili blew out the candle. From the next room they could hear the deep, even breathing of their uncle, fast asleep and an occasional rusting as he moved. Outside the wind howled around the house and rattled the shutters, but inside the two young dwarves were cosy and warm.

Just as they were falling asleep a thought occurred to Fili. "Kili," he whispered, "how did you actually get in here? You can't reach the doorhandles." He felt his brother shrug.

"I climbed on a chair," Kili whispered back, "You won't tell anybody, will you?"

Trying not to laugh at the thought of their mother's face when she realised that Kili could and probably would escape whenever he wanted to now, Fili shook his head. "Of course, I won't tell anybody," he promised, "Now go to sleep and don't worry about any more bad dreams. I'm here and I won't go anywhere."

With a sigh Kili closed his eyes. "Good night," he murmured sleepily, yawning widely.

"Good night, Kili," his brother replied, "Sleep well, little one."


End file.
